Dynamo

Bernard Sumner (New Order/Joy Division) has a new band, Bad Lieutenant, and Bad Lieutenant are giving away a free track, "Dynamo." Check out the Bad Lieutenant site for more details.

http://badlieutenant.net/

Minimum Wage, Maximum Rage

Rob Skipper and the Musical Differences are giving away tracks from their sessions with producer Clive Langer. Head over to their myspace page for more details.

Also, check out Strummerville for information about the Musical Differences' involvement with the late Joe Strummer's foundation for new music.

http://www.myspace.com/themusicaldifferences

http://www.strummerville.com/

Bummer...

It totally sucks that Mika Miko are breaking up. I really liked them when I saw them at the FYF Fest, and I love that they live in Northridge (and are not ashamed to admit it). I even love their original name, Dead Banana Ladies (aka DBL).

Mika Miko's videos are great, too. Check out the "Totion" video on the LA Times' music blog.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2009/10/mika-miko-is-breaking-up.html

Fuck yeah!

I ruined my new flip-flops when I went to the FYF Festival last month. What was I thinking?

Anyways, Hutch Harris sure had a lot of fun saying "fuck yeah" over and over again throughout the Thermal's set. I would also like to thank Cole Alexander from the Black Lips for sharing his thoughts about how a massive earthquake will wipe out Los Angeles sometime in 2010. Thanks, Cole!

http://www.fyffest.com/

Girls are coming to LA

I will be at the Girls/Morning Benders show at the Troubadour in West Hollywood on December 5.

http://www.myspace.com/themorningbenders

http://www.myspace.com/girls

"She's kind of a loser"

I saw Sum 41 open for Social Distortion at the House of Blues on Sunset Boulevard in 2000, and they blew me away. This is from 2001.

Deryck Whibley/Sum 41

If Sum 41's Deryck Whibley began dropping the names of all of the rock stars he has met recently, he would really hurt himself. In the past year, Deryck and Sum 41 have shared stages with none other than Mike Ness (Social Distortion), Dexter Holland (Offspring), and Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters). So, Deryck, what's it like rubbing elbows with the rich and famous?

"Dexter had a Fourth of July party at his house," says the Sum 41 singer-guitarist, rather matter-of-factly, as he speaks to me on the phone. "We all just went and hung out at his place. It was cool."

Yes, the members of Sum 41 have definitely come a long way in a short amount of time. Deryck and the rest of the band originally hail from Ajax, a small town located right outside of Toronto. But don't be fooled by the way Sum 41 describes Ajax in the song, "Fat Lip." Not everyone in Ajax has a mullet and listens to Iron Maiden and Judas Priest.

"Well, we all actually love Iron Maiden and Judas Priest," Deryck explains, while still not dispelling the myth that Ajax is more than a one-horse town. "I really didn't grow up in Ajax, though. I grew up in Toronto. There's much more going on in Toronto. If I had grown up in Ajax, I don't think I would be writing music today. Ajax is just a small suburb of Toronto. It's so boring there."

To date, Sum 41 is best known for Half Hour of Power, which is both: 1) The highly entertaining EP the band released last summer. 2) The best way to describe the band's super tight and energetic live performances. Unfortunately, for Deryck and Sum 41, the carefree days of last summer are far behind them.

"Now we spend eight hours a day in the van, driving," Deryck says, describing one of the downsides of being in the music business. "I'm talking to you from a club in Fort Collins, Colorado called the Starlight. We're on tour with Reel Big Fish. We used to be able to practice a lot, but you can't really practice when you're on tour. You just get better by learning onstage."

Besides currently feeling the effects of living life on the road, the members of Sum 41 were also really under the gun while making their debut full-length album, All Killer, No Filler. According to Deryck, it is no coincidence that some of the songs on the Island Records release have titles like "In Too Deep," "Motivation," and "Handle This."

"There was a lot of pressure on us while making All Killer, No Filler," Deryck tells me, as he lets out a nervous little laugh. "We started recording All Killer, No Filler only two months after we had finished recording Half Hour of Power. For All Killer, No Filler, we had to come up with twelve new songs in a really short period of time. Every single morning we had to wake up and work on new songs. It was a lot of pressure, but I think All Killer, No Filler came out great in the end."

After they complete their tour with Reel Big Fish, Deryck and Sum 41 will play a few dates on the East Coast with another group of famous rock star friends -- Travis Barker and Blink-182. While Blink-182's female fans will undoubtedly fall under Sum 41's spell, they probably are not going to appreciate one of Deryck's new tunes, "Crazy Amanda." "Crazy Amanda" is the polar opposite of a valentine-shaped Blink-182 love song.

"Amanda is this ex-girlfriend of mine from a long time ago," Deryck says, sounding just a tad bitter. "She's kind of a loser. I went out with Amanda like four years ago. I don't even know why [memories of her] still come into my head."

"You can have fun even though it's a funeral"

This is a review of an Elliott Smith show from back in 2000. I remember that the manager of the Wiltern confiscated my camera at the beginning of the show because I took a few pictures of Elliott while using a flash. Elliott didn't seem to mind the flash, though.

Elliott Smith
Wiltern Theatre
November 14, 2000

Elliott Smith is a slight, skinny guy. Smith's dark hair is long and greasy, and he takes the stage wearing three-day old stubble and a battered brown T-shirt. There is something sad and painful about Smith's demeanor, too. Upon first seeing Smith step up to the microphone, you ready yourself for a scream or an assault. But Elliott Smith's looks are deceiving. Just close your eyes and listen.

You hear a beautiful, angelic voice. And then you open your eyes. You are startled to discover a voice so unexpectedly serene coming out of Smith's mouth. For despite his cruelly disheveled appearance, Elliott Smith has been truly blessed.

Not surprisingly, fans at the Wiltern Theatre sat awestruck as they watched and listened to Smith perform. Backed by an oval-shaped video screen and a crack three-piece band, Smith opened his set with "Needle in the Hay" and "Son of Sam." Smith, however, was out to do more than captivate by contrasting shyness with exceptional talent. Elliott Smith wanted to rock.

"It's ok. You can have fun even though it's a funeral," Smith quietly reassured audience members as they politely applauded from their seats. And after finally getting the crowd on its feet by playing "Division Day," "Bled White," and "Can't Make a Sound," Smith and company never looked back.

Smith did slow down, though, for his first encore -- "Plainclothes Man," "Between the Bars," and "Say Yes." This acoustic-based encore, like all of his songs, highlighted Smith's wonderfully gifted voice.

With golden images of big city lights flashing across the video screen, Smith and his band plugged back in and ended their second encore with an electrifying cover of Blue Oyster Cult's "(Don't Fear) the Reaper." And the seemingly introverted Smith left the stage blowing kisses to the audience.

http://www.sweetadeline.net/

"I don't think they're singing about politics just because they think it's cool and wanna get laid"

I interviewed Steve E. Nix from the Briefs in 2005. Even though the Briefs had a song on commercial radio at the time, Nix was still riding the bus. I don't think he was happy that this was reflected in the finished article.

Steve E. Nix/The Briefs

Despite his name and his band's tongue-in-cheek lyrics, Steve E. Nix of the Briefs doesn’t mess around when he gives an interview. On a Halloween night break between tours in support of The Briefs’ brand-new album, Steal Yer Heart, Nix phoned me and talked about potential hit singles, downloading free music, and bridging politics with playful punk rock. And, Mr. Nix did all of this from one of his favorite places to do an interview – the bus…

“I'm on the No. 36 bus in Seattle, headed home,” Nix says, sounding a little tired. "Man, I have no plans for Halloween. I'm kinda into staying home and scaring trick-or-treaters as they come by. In a couple of days, we start our next tour in Boise.

"We'll see about our song, 'Getting Hit On at the Bank' from Steal Yer Heart, being a 'hit' song. It's cool they're playing it on Indie [103.1 in Los Angeles]. I'm proud of that. That song doesn't really sound like anything else we've done before. It's sort of a one-off song for us.

"In some ways, I think illegally downloading records is bad because a lot of money, time, and effort goes into making music. If people buy Steal Yer Heart, a little bit of that money goes back to us, and we're able to make more records, right? But, at the same time, I don't have much money at all, and people burn CDs for me and I put them on my computer. Shit, if I could afford it, I'd support everybody making music. I guess if you can afford to buy it, then you should pay for it, especially music from independent labels.

"I don't own their record, American Idiot, but I do respect Green Day. I think it's amazing that a song with American Idiot's lyrical content is being played on commercial radio. Hopefully, it's getting kids to think a little bit more about politics and society. When I was growing up, all you heard on the radio were bands like Van Halen and AC/DC, which were cool, but they didn't provide much food for thought. A band like Green Day is a rarity because they're able to be political and commerical, while no one else is. Besides, I think the guys in Green Day are sincere. At this point, I don't think they're singing about politics just because they think it's cool and wanna get laid.

"We usually don't talk about politics on our records, zero. On our last record, Sex Objects, we had three political tracks, but they were done in a tongue-in-cheek way. That's just the kind of band we are. I guess if we were a super-articulate, meaningful, political punk band, the world would be an even more beautiful place. Instead, we've got our own niche, where we're just entertaining. Since we had songs like No More Presidents, Orange Alert, and Destroy the USA on Sex Objects, I think we subconsciously didn't want to do political songs on Steal Yer Heart. I think there are probably a lot of other bands who can do a much better job of being political than we can.

"Anyways, we're happy to keep putting out records and feel fortunate for staying together this long. I mean, it hasn't been that long, but so many bands that I love have broken-up after only one or two records. It's tough when you tour as much as we do and you're stuck together day-in-and-day-out. It's difficult, and I think we're pretty fortunate to still be doing this."

http://www.myspace.com/thebriefsfanclub

"I tend to shoot the shit"

Considering he had been falsely accused of rape just a few years before, it was not surprising that Isaac Brock wanted to hide behind side projects and alter egos when I interviewed him back in 2002. The following is an article I wrote about Brock and his short-lived Modest Mouse side project, Ugly Casanova.

Isaac Brock/Ugly Casanova

According to a press release issued by Sub Pop Records, the “official” story behind Ugly Casanova goes something like this… Back in the summer of 1998, a deranged fan named Edgar Graham approached the members of the Seattle-based trio, Modest Mouse, at a show in Denver. Graham, who introduced himself as “Ugly Casanova,” displayed “a gentle, if not slightly unnerving mental disability,” which the members of Modest Mouse found so endearing that they “adopted” him for the rest of their tour. After the tour, Graham/Casanova quickly disappeared, but not before being coerced into sharing valuable song lyrics and musical ideas with Modest Mouse singer-leader Isaac Brock.

The press release goes on to say that this collaboration, along with a “sheaf of ramblings” sent from Graham to Brock the following year, “inspired” Modest Mouse’s acclaimed 2000 album, The Moon and Antarctica. “Then, in November of last year,” the Sub Pop release continues, “a faded and water-damaged bundle was discovered among a stack of old packages during one of those general decontamination purges that so often follows a mail scare… Inside, swathed in tape, Silly Putty and pelts of three identifiable rodents was a greeting from the long lost Graham. Numerous tapes and a list of requests that alternated between raving demands and meek pleas for recognition were extracted from this mess of a package.” From this package, the press release concludes, Brock pieced together a full album’s worth of Ugly Casanova songs, which he and Sub Pop have entitled Sharpen Your Teeth.

Now anyone who has followed Isaac Brock and Modest Mouse throughout their decade-long career knows that there is no such person as Edgar Graham. However, longtime Modest Mouse fans are already quite familiar with the moniker “Ugly Casanova,” which is both the name of Brock’s music publishing company and an early Modest Mouse song. Over the years, loyal Modest Mouse admirers have also grown accustomed to Brock’s mischievous yet closely guarded nature.

“I don’t really play in Ugly Casanova, I just oversee it and things,” Brock tells me from his home in Cottage Grove, Oregon. “I joke! We have good times! [Laughs then pauses.] Ugly Casanova started off as a solo project. But I also wanted to record with a bunch of different people I don’t get to play with too often. So Ugly Casanova wound up being [Moon and Antarctica producer] Brian Deck and me and a few more people. While Brian and I were the two consistent [players] on Sharpen Your Teeth, I also recorded a couple of songs down in San Diego with Pall Jenkins, a fellow from the Black Heart Procession. We also recorded with my friend John Orth, who I met when I lived in Florida, and Tim Rutili, who was in a band with Brian in Chicago called Red Red Meat, and then a band called Califone. Except for those two songs I did in San Diego with Pall, we recorded Sharpen Your Teeth here at my home in Cottage Grove.”

Although Brock is more than willing to talk about the true origin of Ugly Casanova and the recording of Sharpen Your Teeth, the innovative singer-band leader is not as eager to explain the content of his latest songs. Nonetheless, Brock warns that while parts of Sharpen Your Teeth may sound playful or even whimsical, his new album is, in fact, darker and more sinister than any of his past work with Modest Mouse. At least, that is what Brock wants his listeners to believe.

“I probably shouldn’t say anything about the songs,” Brock says to me over the phone. “But this album has some very dark moments. It’s a slower, prettier-type of evil. I wanted to get more of that vibe than I had managed to get on a lot of Modest Mouse things. Not that I hadn’t tried with Modest Mouse, but it’s harder to get that vibe with a full band. And there are only so many times with Modest Mouse I can say, specifically, I want a song without drums on it, or I want a song to have a creepy [vibe]. For example, on one song on Sharpen Your Teeth, Brian and I sat on either end of a piece of plywood and stomped on it. Then, we got chains…”

This summer, Brock will spend time on the road with both of his bands – Ugly Casanova and Modest Mouse. First, Brock and Ugly Casanova will headline a short club tour, and then Brock will join Modest Mouse for the month-long Unlimited Sunshine Tour. In the meantime, Brock is content to stay at his home in Cottage Grove and continue working on what he does best.

“I tend to shoot the shit,” Brock says as our conversation winds down. “But right now I’m writing a song. I’d better get back to doing that anyways.”

http://www.subpop.com/

Drew Barrymore, Jens & You

Thank you, Drew Barrymore, for introducing Jens Lekman to audiences everywhere by featuring Jens' song, "Your Arms Around Me," in your movie, Whip It! You do know that the song is about a guy who passes out after cutting off his index finger while slicing into an avocado, don't you?

http://www.jenslekman.com/

"Los Angeles is still a bad-ass place to live"

The following is a review I wrote shortly after 9/11. I heard a rumor that Julian Casablancas from the Strokes was in the audience. The Strokes were the hottest band in the world at the time.

Jane’s Addiction/Courtney Love
Hollywood Bowl
October 27, 2001

People do not really change; they just grow older. Courtney Love still seeks attention through controversy and negativity. And Perry Farrell still celebrates the wonder of life through art and music…

“This is one Jewish broad versus another Jewish broad,” Love announced at the Hollywood Bowl, trying her best to upstage host Farrell and headliners Jane’s Addiction. Poor Courtney Love; it is not like she already does not have enough turmoil whirling through her stalled career without biting Farrell’s gracious hand. Besides volunteering for the top of Farrell’s shit list, Love is also currently involved in two separate lawsuits -- one with her present record company, Geffen, and another with her late husband Kurt Cobain’s Nirvana bandmates, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl. However, it seems like almost nothing can or will keep Courtney Love from saying and doing whatever she pleases, as she proved during her group’s performance at the Bowl.

Love, fronting a new five-piece band featuring Hole drummer Patty Schemel, at least looked like the movie star/rock goddess she has always aspired to be. Shoeless and sporting painfully short bangs, Love wore a torn, flowing shirt that showed-off her well-toned abdomen and low-riding, hip-hugging blue denim pants. Love and her hard-rocking new band (rumored to be named Bastard) kicked off their set with a not-at-all ironically titled new song called “All the Drugs in the World,” and then followed with an old Hole favorite, 1994’s “Asking for It.” Next came another new song about a woman’s affair with a married man named “Baby, I Know Where You Live,” and then another Hole favorite, 1998’s “Malibu.” Meanwhile, Love amused herself by throwing water and set decorations at fans, knocking over microphones, and mocking those she saw as being members of the Bowl’s usual, upscale audience: “Hey! Don’t eat while I’m singing! Take your wine and cheese and stick them up your fucking ass!”

Love’s performance came to an abrupt end, however, when she threatened to stay onstage for “another four or five songs” and cut into Farrell and Jane’s set time. Halfway through a new song bizarrely dedicated to Yoko Ono, the Bowl’s houselights came on and Love’s power was promptly cut off. Realizing that her band’s set was now over, a disgusted Love left the stage and disappeared into the same audience she had been abusing only moments earlier.

In contrast to Love, Farrell and Jane’s Addiction took the stage in turn-of-the-millennium, “Jubilee” party-mode. Farrell -- along with Sean Lennon, Bob Geldof, and Bono -- is a supporter of the Jubilee charitable organization, which encourages leading economic powers to forgive vast debts owed by Third World nations. Farrell’s interest in Jubilee strongly influenced both the singer’s new solo album, Song Yet to be Sung, and Jane’s exotically decorated, Third World-themed stage set.

Farrell arrived onstage at the Bowl wearing an outlandishly crafted, twenty-foot wide white skirt that also had at least six serpentine-like female dancers hidden underneath it. And those female dancers played an important part of Jane’s stage set as they performed on swings, teeter-totters, and grooved on separate, freestanding platforms. Since Jane’s Addiction has released only two albums of all-original material, 1988’s Nothing’s Shocking and 1990’s Ritual de lo Habitual, Farrell and the rest of the band -- shirtless guitarist Dave Navarro, bassist Martyn Le Noble, and drummer Steve Perkins -- must have felt that they had to rely heavily on added visual effects like female dancers and laser lights to surprise the audience. But, the crowd at the Bowl seemed almost overjoyed just to hear old songs like “Ocean Size,” “Three Days,” and “Summertime Rolls” performed live one more time.

Near the end of the show, the band moved to a specially built smaller stage that was located in the middle of the Bowl. Here, Farrell, Navarro, Le Noble, and Perkins played a stripped-down, acoustic set of the band’s more intimate songs. And not only did Farrell and company perform old Jane’s tunes such as “Classic Girl” and the band’s signature song, “Jane Says,” but they were also joined by guitarist Pete DiStefano on the Porno for Pyros hit, “Pets.” Navarro then sang “Hungry,” a song off his recent solo album Trust No One, and Farrell followed by performing Song Yet to be Sung’s “Happy Birthday Jubilee.”

Following a parade led by jump-roping clowns and dancers with spiral-spinning parasols, the members of Jane’s Addiction made their way back to the main stage to conclude the concert. After performing two more old favorites -- “Mountain Song” and “Ted, Just Admit It” -- a very sincere and appreciative Farrell uniquely expressed his love for the fans and also for his adopted hometown, Los Angeles. “Turn a ‘down’ year like 2001 into an ‘up’ year,” Farrell told the crowd at the Bowl. “Because every year that you’re alive is an ‘up’ year. And Los Angeles is still a bad-ass place to live.”

"Josh said the windscreen got smashed or something"

I received this email from Rob Skipper a few weeks back in response to a previous message I had sent to him. It's funny because he mistakes me for another Steve. Here's part of it:

steve! i remember you! josh said he had some great times with you after we left him. how's it going man? how's your car... josh said the windscreen got smashed or something!

R

Well, I guess it's not so funny if you're the poor Steve with the smashed windshield.

http://www.myspace.com/themusicaldifferences

Can't Stand Me Now

I liked the Holloways because they reminded me of the Libertines -- I thought of Alfie Jackson as Carl Barat, Rob Skipper as Pete Doherty, and "So This Is Great Britain?" as the Holloways' answer to the Libertines' "Time for Heroes."

However, where Barat and Doherty tried to evoke such romantic figures as Errol Flynn and Oscar Wilde, Jackson and Skipper intentionally tried to come off as more like Groucho and Harpo Marx, especially in the Holloways' "Generator" video.

Unfortunately, just like Barat and Doherty's relationship, the Jackson-Skipper partnership imploded in the months leading to the release of the Holloways' second album, No Smoke, No Mirrors. And, just as Barat did after evicting Doherty from the Libertines, Jackson continues to tour under the Holloways' name with replacement Holloways.

Meanwhile, Skipper fitfully records and plays gigs with his curiously named new group, the Musical Differences, in Los Angeles and London.

http://the-holloways.co.uk/

Hello, World!

hopelessly romantic...
hopelessly devoted...
hopelessly optimistic...